Super League - Alexander Vasyunov (New Jersey Devils) scored, Semen Varlamov (Washington Capitals) stopped all the shots and Lokomotiv took away the first game of of the semifinals series against Metallurg. Vasyunov, who replaced hurt Konstantin Rudenko (Philadelphia Flyers) on the second line with Ivan Tkachenko (Columbus Blue Jackets) and Alexei Mikhnov (Edmonton Oilers), at the twenty-eight minute burned Metallurg defenseman Ivan Sidorov on the left flank and then released a smooth backhander that hit left pad of Travis Scott before going in the net. “I shot and the goalkeeper didn’t catch the puck. Bad for him, good for us”. In the last seconds of the game Metallurg replaced the goalie for a sixth skater, but Yashin added an empty-netter that ended the match. Semen Varlamov (Washington Capitals) has been really solid and won the battle against the best goalkeeper of the past season Travis Scott, getting his second shutout of these playoffs. “My Finn trainer Jussi Parkkila has convinced me to play butterfly, but I still have to master this different style” – Varlamov declared to Sport Day After Day in a post-game interview.

Super League - Ak Bars (Kazan) appears to be back on the hunt after a convincing victory against HC Traktor. Once struggling HC Metallurg found a new scoring line with newcomer Albert Vishnyakov (Tampa Bay Lightning) on one of the wings. The young prospect assisted on both goals, making it three points for him in last two games (all assists). Alexander Korolyuk delivered his best game of the season, scoring no goals…but assisting on four of his team’s five! Igor Volkov (New York Islanders) added his lucky #13 goal of the season, while Alexei Tereschenko (Dallas Stars) struck in overtime to lead Salavat Yulayev past SKA. Ivan Tkachenko (Columbus Blue Jackets) seems to have reawakened recently, scoring two goals in this contest, making it three in last two games for a player who had just 4 tallies in first 33 games of the season. READ MORE

December 2006 Update: Continues to be a dangerous forward in the offensive zone for HC Lokomotiv, if that is, he can stay on his feet...technically gifted and has impressive speed and skating ability, but continues to lack the strength necessary to compete in front of the net or drive into the opponent’s zone. It appears that his development is leveling off. This may largely be due to the fact that he has been with HC Lokomotiv for four seasons now and has become comfortable in his surroundings and his role, though it has been impressive that he consistently earned ice time under four different HC Lokomotiv coaches, while other players have had to leave or spend extensive time on the bench.
Ivan Tkachenko is a quick skilled left wing. Ivan has great intensity and is always on the move while he is on the ice. He is a great skater with rapid acceleration and impressive lateral movement. Ivan constantly moves his legs and seems to be running through traffic, never stopping to move his legs. He is not afraid of contact and often drives directly into the opposition, often drawing multiple players to line up against him. This is where he becomes a bit of a showman and either drives right through the opposition with some flashy stick move and a bit of skating, or gets taken down in what seems to be a penalty by the defenseman. The penalties are often a result of Tkachenko’s great acting skills. No traffic is too much for this smaller sized winger and he will purposefully drive himself into the opposition and draw the penalties. Besides his individual skills, Ivan sees the ice well and uses his line mates. Last season he played with center Sergei Korolev and right winger Jan Paterek. He molded well with the partners and the line was very productive. Yet, Ivan still tried to often drive to the net himself and let off a shot in situations where he should have passed the puck. Ivan’s shot is not very strong and is usually low to the ground. It hasn’t really slowed his production though, since he scores a lot of goals close up in the crease and off rebounds. Without the puck he picks good positions

Back In Russia:

Ivan is a product of the Yaroslavl hockey system and grew up in the Lokomotiv organization. He first showed his scoring touch on the Torpedo 2 squad in the 98-99 season when he scored 28 points (15+13) in just as many games. However, this was not a big achievement on the offensively gifted squad with players like Roman Lyaschenko, Maxim Balmochnykh (formerly Anaheim and now New Jersey Devils prospect) and Dmitri Vlasenkov (Atlanta Tharshers prospect). He then spent the next two seasons on loan to Nefkhimik Nizhnekamsk. After just five games, Neftkhimik in turn loaned him Motor Zavolzhe in the less competitive Upper League. There he earned more ice time and his production shot up with 29 points (15+14) in 43 games. For some reason then Lokomotiv’s head coach Petr Vorobiev did not notice the young forward and he spent another season with Neftkhimik Nizhnekamsk, this time sticking with the Super League team for the entire season and the playoffs. He wasn’t very productive, scoring only two goals and adding two assists in he 32 games with Neftkhimik. However, with the change in coaching came a fresh start for Ivan and under Vladimir Vujtek. The new coach noticed Ivan while he was on loan yet again, this time to Torpedo Nizhni Novgorod at the Bashkir Cup tournament. The coach quickly recalled the young winger and Ivan earned a leading role with Lokomotiv right out of the 01-02 preseason. His line centered by Sergei Korolev, and with Jan Paterek on the right wing, was Lokomotiv’s second scoring unit. He saw a lot of ice time on the power play as well and scored 34 points in the 44 regular season games (13+21). He did not fizzle in the playoffs either and added 7 more points (5+2) in the 9 playoff games on the way to the Super League’s gold medal. During the 01-02 season Ivan also saw some international action with Russia’s national team. Most noticeably, he was one of the biggest surprises on the most suprising team’s at the 2002 World Championships. He scored 5 points (3+2) in 9 games on his way to the silver medals on the defensively minded Russian squad. He did appear to lose some steam towards the end of the tournament, scoring most of his points in the beginning, but Ivan provided the needed boost to the team early on. The 02-03 season will be a bit more difficult for Ivan. His line’s center, Sergei Korolev, has left Lokomotiv for the team’s Super League finals opponent Ak Bars Kazan, and it remains to be seen how effective Ivan’s line will be without him. Ivan spent the 2002-03 season with Lokomotiv, and as expected the departure of Yevgeniy Korolev hurt his production. However, towards the end of the season, the young forward picked up his game significantly and made a real impact in the playoffs, on the way to Lokomotiv's second concequtive gold medals.